'North Korea will NOT be a nuclear power and US will defend itself', warns John Kerry

'North Korea will NOT be a nuclear power and US will defend itself', warns John Kerry

US SECRETARY of State John Kerry has said North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power and will come to the defence of the South if necessary, in talks over the escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se

North Korea would be making a "huge mistake" if it launched one of its medium-range missiles during the current standoff between it, the United States and South Korea, Mr Kerry warned.

Mr Kerry is discussing the crisis with President Park Geun-hye and his South Korean counterpart as well as US military commanders in the country.

North Korea will gain nothing by threatening tests of its missile or nuclear programs, Mr Kerry said, emphatically stating the U.S. and its Asian ally won't accept the North as a nuclear power.

The US Secretary of State warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un needs to understand "what would be the outcome of any conflict."

If North Korea were to launch missiles "it would contribute to an already volatile, potentially dangerous situation," he added.

Mr Kerry said US preference would be to get into talks on the North Korean nuclear issue "to ultimately diffuse the situayion," but the reclusive state must be serious about denuclearisation.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called Pyongyang's threats a "grave provocation" to the entire international community.

North Korea will gain nothing by threatening tests of its missile or nuclear programs, Mr Kerry said

As U.S. and South Korean troops braced for what some feared may be an imminent North Korean missile launch, President Barack Obama demanded an end to the escalating war rhetoric from Pyongyang.

In his first public comments since North Korea warned of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula, Obama called it time for the isolated nation "to end the belligerent approach they have taken and to try to lower temperatures."

"Nobody wants to see a conflict on the Korean Peninsula," Obama said yesterday, speaking from the Oval Office alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

North Korea has not specified plans to fire a missile or carry out another nuclear test, but has warned that it has weapons on standby and would be prepared to strike if provoked by the U.S. and South Korea, its Korean War foes.